Mumbai: Wife asked for divorce, so I killed her in anger, says Andheri man

The Andheri man who tried to commit suicide after telling the police he had killed his wife, has blamed her for his taking the extreme steps. According to the suicide note retrieved from the couple’s home, the accused claimed his wife had asked for a divorce and wanted to marry someone else, causing him to lose his temper and stab her brutally to death.

mid-day had reported on the incident yesterday in which Rajesh Narayan (28) had called up the D N Nagar police and told them he was going to kill himself by jumping off the Vashi bridge.

In the phone call, he had also confessed to murdering his wife, Ritu (22). Though Narayan did jump from the overpass, he was rescued by local fishermen and arrested for the murder. Now, police have found the suicide note in the couple’s home.

In a seven-page letter written in Marathi, Narayan has detailed how his marriage deteriorated and how the final straw that broke the camel’s back was his wife asking for a divorce and wanting to marry another man.

‘Unhappy’According to the note (mid-day has seen it), the couple had met five years ago and were in a relationship. “Last year, Ritu’s family started forcing me to get married to her. When I tried convincing them that I didn’t have a proper job and, hence, it would be too early for marriage, they blackmailed me saying they would marry off Ritu to someone else if I didn’t marry her,” Narayan has written in the note.

The couple got married last year but, according to Narayan, Ritu wanted to move into another house and have a “better lifestyle.” Narayan claims to have “done his best to keep her happy”, but that arguments still were common. “Whenever I came home late, Ritu suspected I was having an affair with a friend. I tried to make her understand but she didn’t,” the letter reads.

Once, Ritu went out and allegedly didn’t return home for 1-2 days, leading Narayan to lodge a missing complaint with the D N Nagar police, the letter states. On that same day, Ritu’s friend called Narayan and told him she was with her and that if he wanted to speak to her, he would have to do so on the road outside the friend’s house.

Last strawAccording to the note, Narayan met Ritu on the street and asked her to come home. When Ritu refused, he slapped her in anger. “She filed a complaint against Narayan with us. But we counselled them to not give up on the relationship, and think it over for some days,” Dhanaji Nalawade, senior police inspector, D N Nagar police station told mid-day.

On the day of the incident (June 9), Ritu called her husband and said she wanted to meet him at their home and settle all their problems, the note continues. At home, Ritu confessed she was having an affair and wanted to marry another person. She proposed that the couple divorce as soon as possible. “She told me I had made her life hell and didn’t understand her feelings.

She didn’t want to live with me,” the 28-year-old has written in the letter. Narayan tried convincing her against the decision, and the couple got into an argument. “She annoyed me and we got into an argument, which led to my killing her,” he has written.

Cop speakAjay Kshirsagar, police inspector, D N Nagar police station, said, “We have got his custody till June 16. He has confessed to the murder. The only evidence we have found is the suicide note. Investigations to find other evidence are on.”